Arrival
My brother, sister-in-law, and a long time friend were to
arrive at the Zambia airport in just a few minutes. I was late because I
decided to save money and take a minibus instead of a taxi. I thought I'd
stretch my legs and walk a few kilometers from the main road to the airport.
Problem was, I got off at the wrong time. I ran into the issue of thinking I
was almost there already, but this lasted for what I later found out to be
about 16 kilometers. As I watched their plane land, I started flagging down
cars, noticing the irritating blisters now forming on my feet where my sandals
were rubbing. Turns out a pilot felt bad enough for me to stop. I asked him if
he was going to the airport too, and he said yeah, and points to his plane.
The customs line for Chris, Holly, and Adam took well over
an hour, so I had no reason to hurry anyway.
Our first night in Lusaka we spent at Lusaka Backpackers,
had a few beers, showers, and exchanged stories of the trip. The next day we
boarded a night bus headed to Mansa, the capital of my province. This was to be
their first real African experience. Crowded bus station, corrupt bus
attendants, street vendors (who also come into the bus and bug you about “real
zebra leather belts”), delayed departures, traffic jams, and blaring 90's rock
music well into the night. But we finally made it to Mansa. Now we sleep.
I arranged a taxi to drive us up north to a series of
waterfalls called Ntumbachushi Falls. The driver said he was sick, but he would
still be able to drive us the next day. I kindly informed him that we were
currently ready to go today. Luckily he came. We hit the grocery store and took
off out of town. We were making good time, considering everything, until a loud
bang and some uncomfortable vibrations stopped us. Our tire had blown and flown
past the window, proceeding to drop the car and catch the front bumper
underneath the rim of the once full tire, nearly pulling it off. We stopped to
assess the damage. Luckily a spare tire was usable in the trunk, so we got to
work fixing that. A group of children came to see what was going on, picking up
pieces of the tire on the road along with the chrome strip which normally makes
the car look nice. The spare went on, but the bumper wasn't looking so well.
Some villagers that head the commotion came to help repair the damage, taking
strips of rubber from the broken tire to tie the bumper back into place.
But we made it. Ntumbachushi Falls is a series of 7 or so
sets of falls ending with 2 big ones. We built a fire, swam in the icy waters,
hiked around, did a bit of stargazing, and tried to relax for a couple days.
The driver was supposed to be fixing the tire the day we
were at the falls, so that he could pick us up early in the morning to take us
back to Mansa then to my village. A long day of driving. He was 2 hours late.
But we made it. Of course, it was well after dark when we
got to my village, and this was after stopping along the road to duct tape the
headlight back into place. In the village we greeted most of my neighbors, ate
with a few of them, took a long walk across the dambos, watched the newly
hatched chicks, played some games, roasted marshmallows, and tried to relax
again. All in all it was a great time, that is until our driver was late and
wouldn't answer his phone the day we were supposed to leave for Lusaka. I tried
calling a number he called me with the day before. It turned out to be his
brother who said that the driver was in Mansa and wasn't coming. Uh-oh. Just as
I was about to bike into Lubwe and hire a taxi from there, he shows up. Crisis
averted.
Apart from almost getting lost in Lusaka, we finally made it
to Livingstone to begin the second part of our vacation to see Victoria Falls
and go on Safari into Botswana.
Botswana Blitz
Starting from Jollyboys, a hostel in Livingstone, we took
off for the Botswana border. After waiting for our ride, (and eating a heaping
pile of nachos) we saw the tank of a cruiser we'd be in for the next week. All
12 of us plus a guide and a cook crammed into the tank, bags in the trailer, we
took off. The first day was to Chobe National Park, waterfront, along the
Namibia border. From there we saw the majority of the wildlife we'd see for the
next week, just in the few hours before we set up camp. Included, was a leopard
laying right next to the road just a couple yards from us. Each night we'd find
a campsite, unload the trailer, set up the tents and tables, then wait for our
dinner, which was usually quite delicious.
Day two took us further down the waterfront and out of the
park. We reentered at another area of the park to spend the night at Savuti,
another campsite within Chobe. After returning from another game drive in the
evening, we heard a herd of about 12 elephants just across the river from our
campsite. Just after turning off our lights for the night, I heard something
walk past the tent. We were at the edge of the camp, so I thought it might be
an animal. I poked my head out of the tent, and shined my headlamp around. Just
beyond a grouping of bushes, I saw one yellow eye looking back at me. In the
morning our guide said yellow typically meany predator, probably a hyena.
Day three we headed out of Chobe and into Moremi Game
Reserve. The evening game drive started off quite uneventful, until we noticed
some waterbuck off in the distance, stares frozen toward us. Most of the time
we'd see impala, kudu, or waterbuck, they'd check us out, and start walking
away. This time, we thought something might be different. Stopping just out of
some tall grass, about 200 yards away, we saw the first of a group of African
wild dog. We started toward it in the cruiser and stopped about half way. In
the next few minutes 7 or 8 wild dogs ran within feet of our vehicle. One still
had a chunk of meat in it's mouth. Apparently they gorge on meat, then head
back to the den to share the puppies.
Day four was to get us to Maun, a city known for it's donkey
population. In fact, lots of livestock could be found just walking around the
city. Cows in the parking lot, donkeys along the road, etc. We got into a camp
with showers. None of us had cleaned ourselves since leaving for Botswana, so
we were pretty exited for real showers. We were also able to stop at the
grocery store to pick up more water and snacks.
Day five: Okavango Delta. We took off early in the morning
to the edge of the Okavango Delta where local mukoro pollers awaited our
arrival. Mukoro (or mekoro, for plural) are traditional canoes carved from a
single piece of wood. The poller uses a long straight stick to push the mukoro
through the grasses along paths cleared by years of mukoro driving. Some mekoro
are now made of fiberglass, which seem to leak less. We stopped at an island
for a guided walking safari, where a local guide told us about paw prints,
trees, droppings, etc. The sun was beating down on us pretty hard, so lunch in
the shade was quite welcomed. The night was spent at the fabulous Delta Rain
campsite again (the one with showers!)
Day six took us from Maun, leaving behind the donkeys and
showers, out into Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, part of the Kalahari Desert.
A few kilometers off the main road, we set up camp. As the sun set, the
temperature dropped probably 40 degrees. Luckily there was a new moon, so the
stars would shine their brightest. This, plus the clear desert air and distance
from any cities, gave us a view of the Milky Way I will have to wait a long
time to see again. The whole of the Milky Way stretched from horizon to
horizon. With binoculars a fuzzy spot became clusters of hundreds of stars.
Constellations were hard to find from our star charts because there were so
many stars, the bright ones were tough to keep track of. We stayed up late and
had trouble getting up in the morning because it was so cold, despite our
guide's hyena growl wake up call.
Up next? The legend of the Nyami Nyami at Victoria Falls.
